Military officials should refrain themselves from very often media appearances. Do you agree?

Nowadays, we are observing an increasing tendency of military officials' media appearances. The army chief appears before media like a political leader and exchanges views like a political leader. This time he was heard warning Pakistan of second surgical strike. We saw some other officials also making statements in media. We also saw some official justifying the use of human shield during a critical situation in Kashmir. The ruling govt. had already filed a FIR against the same official for that action.

There has been a conversion that military does not address media directly. During last so called surgical trial on Pakistan, there was lot of hue and cry of that event. The media hype of that event went up to one to one verbal war among the political leaders of the ruling party and the opponents. The media was encouraged by the ruling party to that extent that the anchors of some debates on TV asked the opponents to go to Pakistan.

What was the result of this? The shameless politicians got political mileage out of it. Some TV channels won the TRP war. Some so called nationalist anchors of media houses got Z type security. The People of the country were fooled. The worst thing was the revered military of the country dragged in the fray of opportunism. That incidence degraded the morale of our military. The basic problems of military remain unsolved.

I strongly feel that the military officials should refrain themselves from very often media appearances. They should not fall prey to the sinister designs of the politicians. They should continue to take appropriate actions independently against terrorism and foes. Please opine.

You are perfectly right. Military officials should keep away from the media and should not long for publicity. They should mind their own military activities by planning them secretly. A war can be won only by secret planning and execution. It is a cowardly act to disclose their activities in a open form and do nothing in a real situation.

An absolute requirement. 100% correct. There is no second opinion about that. Military officials as far as possible should not get exposed to the public through their statements in papers and interviews in the channel and be speaking public meeting etc.. This becomes an issue afterwards. Whatever he has spoken will be interpreted in any way the media like and turn it to their advantage. This is very dangerous. Olden days these military officials are always away from the reporters. But recent times it has become very common.The military matters should be kept very very confidential and should not be discussed with anyone. But when they come for an interview to the channel, the anchors will try to confuse them with some unexpected questions. In that process sometimes the confidential matter may come out without his intention and sometimes by mistake also. This news will become viral on the social media. So I feel they should not be visible so frequently in the channels or media.drrao always confident

The same topic was raised by me earlier. The military personnel have no business to appear on the T.V. and make statements and give warnings on the military operations. Their job is to plan any attack under the orders of the Government and conduct it in utmost secrecy. Unfortunately disregarding the convention, military personnel are often going to media and issuing statements like politicians. This trend is of recent origin after the BJP came to power. They utilised the surgical strike conducted earlier by the army to gain political mileage in Uttar Pradesh elections.

The investigations of the J&K Police confirmed that Farooq Ahmad Dar who was used as human shield by Major Gogoi has, in fact, voted in the by-polls on 09-04-2017. After voting he went to a condolence event of his relative in another village. He was caught hold by the army when he is coming back to his village Chill and used as a human shield. The Major who violated the human rights was rewarded by the Army even though the case is pending against him.

I personally feel that the army personnel, serving or retired, should not air their views on the happenings in the army. It is a shame that the present Government is using the deeds of the army for their political gains." Be Good and Do Good "

I don't think any military official will appear and speak before the media without due prior permission because they are very well aware that it is against the regulations governing their conduct. Only those holding the appointment of PROs are entitled to interact with the media and that too is strictly regulated. This being the position, what should we derive from the present trend? I say present trend because it was never done before. And I conclude that such appearances and explanations is done with the concurrence of the government; it is just part of the publicity game that the present central government is most interested in. It is sad that the defence forces is being dragged into such political gimmicks. Defence personnels are required to maintain secrecy at all levels; why do you you think their postal addresses have C/O 99 and C/O 56 APO instead of the current location? We need to understand that we are risking ourselves by divulging our positions, strength and strategies. This need to be stopped forthwith in the interests of national security.'Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance'- Confucius

Serving military officers don't appear before the media without taking permission from the Central Government. In television discussions or in newspaper/magazine articles, retired military officers express their opinion. As for example, the surgical strike on the terrorists at Myanmar and at PoK was announced by the Corps Commander of 3 Corps amd the then DGMO, respectively as per the direction of the Government. The PROs working in different Army Commands also follow the same rules while briefing the media.Caution: Explosive. Handle with care.

It is evident that the army personnel are permitted by the Government to issue statements before the media and answer their questions. I have seen in some media debates the retired army personnel are expressing their views in a contrasting manner. This is not good for the army and the country also. I hope the Government will not thrust the politician's job onto the army personnel." Be Good and Do Good "

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